ABORIGINAL disadvantage has not rated a mention during the Australian election campaign -- there are few votes in it.

But as the party leaders criss-crossed the country this week, shocking evidence emerged at a government inquiry: children in remote indigenous communities are starving.

The claims were made by child protection workers, who said the situation was so dire that an international aid-style programme was needed -- an extraordinary state of affairs in one of the world's most affluent nations.

The workers called for essential food to be delivered by an organisation such as Oxfam or the Red Cross to ensure that children got enough to eat.

In 2008, then prime minister Kevin Rudd apologised to Aboriginal people for historic injustices, he pledged to "close the gap" between black and white Australians -- the yawning gulf relating to their health, life expectancy, education and employment opportunities.